Torque Hits 456 g/t Gold at Ritz, Visible Gold Signals Upside

Torque Metals (ASX: TOR) returned one of the highest-grade gold intercepts seen in recent Western Australian small-cap drilling, with a shallow reverse-circulation hole at the Ritz project cutting 11 metres at 456 grams per tonne gold from 122 metres down-hole.

The interval included a single metre at 3,625 g/t gold. Visible gold was abundant in RC drill spoil, general manager of exploration Monty Graham said. A follow-up diamond hole collared about 3 metres away returned 7.9 metres at 1.37 g/t gold from 146.2 metres, supporting Torque's structural interpretation that the mineralised zone continues on a steep plane through the HHH system.

Torque ran extra quality-assurance work before it could report the headline intercept. The initial photon assay from the standout interval was deemed unreportable because combined uranium and thorium concentrations exceeded 80 parts per million, a threshold that can skew photon-based readings. A duplicate 3 mm laboratory split returned 11 metres at 419 g/t gold. The original sample material was then milled to 75 micrometres, homogenised and re-assayed, producing the final 11 metres at 456 g/t, including 3 metres at 1,267 g/t.

HHH currently hosts a mineral resource estimate of 1.145 million tonnes at 2.0 g/t gold for 73,000 ounces. The current drilling campaign targets extensions to that resource and possible lodes not previously modelled. Other recent HHH results included 8 metres at 3.79 g/t gold from 111 metres near the southern edge of the inferred resource, 4 metres at 6.90 g/t from 46 metres in the north, and a deeper 2 metres at 8.06 g/t from 282 metres outside the current MRE. That deeper intercept aligns with the main west-plunging HHH structure and previously modelled down-hole electromagnetic plates, Torque said.

At the nearby Observation deposit, drilling below the existing MRE returned 1 metre at 10.64 g/t gold. Additional RC assays are pending.

Graham said he had seen visible gold in RC drill chips before, but described this as the most visible gold he had ever seen from a drill sample. Managing director Craig Jones said the abundant visible gold in the shallow interval reflected the "incredible endowment of the system" and reinforced the high-grade growth potential across the Ritz project.

The Ritz MRE totals 3.473 million tonnes at 3.1 g/t gold for 351,000 ounces across the three deposits. Two rigs are operating as Torque advances its Rapid Path to One Million (RPM) strategy. Heritage surveys are underway across previously unexplored areas. Drilling along Maynard's Corridor is scheduled to begin this quarter. Further assays are pending from Paris and Observation.